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Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. --- Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to org@sm. 文案 Chapter 1 Nobody in San Francisco knew that every night at ten o'clock, rich heiress Lorelei Bethell was sleeping with her father's bodyguard, Draven Grafton. They had kept their relationship a total secret from everyone for three solid years. Tonight, Draven showed no restraint. Pinning her against the backseat of the Maybach, he demanded that she make their relationship public, each word punctuated by deep, relentless thrusts. "Next month," Lorelei panted. "Just let me finish my master's degree first, okay?" "No," he said, driving into her again hard enough to make her voice tremble. "Next week, then. I'll announce it on my birthday. Drav, please be gentle," she sobbed. Satisfied at last, he leaned in and nibbled her earlobe. "Good girl, Lora," he murmured, his voice thick with gratification as he brought her to orgasm. Over the past three years, Draven had coaxed Lorelei into being intimate all over the estate—the greenhouse, the storage room, the art studio, the garage—each place offering a different kind of thrill. Lorelei didn't actually want to keep him hidden. But her mother, Valery Kenward, a strict university professor, had explicitly forbidden her from dating before finishing her studies. Confessing that she'd fallen in love with the family bodyguard was completely out of the question. The next afternoon, Lorelei met up with her best friend, Julissa Hinchley, for coffee. The second Julissa slid into the car, she spotted a torn c0ndom wrapper wedged in the gap between the seats. "Dark chocolate mousse. This is from my company's line. Lora, are you seeing somebody?" Lorelei flushed instantly. "I am. It's still a secret right now, though, so please don't tell anyone." Julissa raised an eyebrow. "This isn't even on the market yet. Our company only sent samples to specific online influencers. Speaking of which, I've got some massive gossip." "What influencers?" Lorelei asked, confused. Draven was always the one who bought those things. "There's this mysterious, wealthy influencer making money by posting mosaicked sex tapes of himself and his girlfriend." Julissa pulled out her phone and showed her. Lorelei took one look, and her whole body went rigid. The guy in the video had a "D" tattooed on his lower abdomen, sitting right above a line of Latin cursive script. It was exactly the same as Draven's. Trembling, Lorelei asked, "How do you know he's wealthy?" Julissa let out a mocking laugh. "Because he has a dedicated secretary just to handle business inquiries. He never accepts promotional fees, only adult toys, and his shipping address is actually in Meadowlark Hills. "Think about it—the guy lives in an exclusive neighborhood like Meadowlark Hills, yet uses free promo c0ndoms on his girlfriend and posts their videos online for the whole world to see. Isn't that totally perverted?" Meadowlark Hills was a premier residential enclave right in the city center, where a single house went for upwards of 20 million dollars. An icy wave of shock washed over Lorelei, draining all the color from her face. With trembling fingertips, she tapped into the members-only group. It was loaded with categorized videos. "March 8th. Intense sex with my seemingly untouchable girlfriend in the greenhouse." "March 10th. Sex play in the art studio." "March 12th. High-definition sex in the storage room." Lorelei clicked on a video. The painfully familiar surroundings, the muffled growls, and her own unrestrained moans filled the quiet of the car. Sick with despair, she drove straight to the address Julissa had provided her—Villa No. 18, Meadowlark Hills. She stood outside the iron fence. The backyard pool area was packed with young models and rich heirs laughing and joking around. Draven was lounging back in a wicker chair, chatting with his friends. Lorelei could barely connect him with the gentle, considerate bodyguard she thought she knew. "Draven, if you want to ruin Valery Kenward, isn't there an easier way?" one of the men asked. "Just use your money to get her kicked out of Stanford, and be done with it." Draven scoffed. "Doesn't Valery treasure her highly educated, well-mannered daughter above everything else? I want to completely destroy her reputation. I want Valery to know exactly what it feels like to have a close family member publicly disgraced. "Years ago, as a Stanford professor, she carelessly accused my sister of plagiarizing others' theses, which drove my sister to suicide. She owes me a life. "What kind of look do you think Prof. Kenward will have on her face when she finds out her precious daughter is secretly slutty and has been getting screwed by a lowly bodyguard for the last three years? Honestly, I can't wait." "Man, you're brutal," one of his friends teased. "When are you gonna tell her the truth? Just don't let it blow up in your face." Draven laughed. "I'm just using Lorelei for sex. If Valery found out, she'd be begging me to marry her daughter. "Valery's retirement reception is this afternoon, actually. I had someone send my 'future mother-in-law' a special gift." Lorelei's mind went blank. Without even stopping to confront him, she sprinted to her car and peeled out, driving in a blind panic toward Stanford University. Valery was a fiercely proud woman. Lorelei couldn't let herself be the reason her mother's retirement reception was ruined. By the time Lorelei rushed into the venue, Valery was already stepping up to the podium to give her speech. "Mom, I need to tell you something," she urged. Valery's expression softened at the sight of her. She pulled Lorelei up onto the stage beside her, beaming at the crowd. "Everyone, this is my daughter, Lorelei. She's a grad student here in Stanford's physics department. I hope you'll all keep an eye out for her as she builds her career." Before Valery could even finish, the massive screen behind them flickered and changed. A montage of partially censored sex videos started playing. In every single frame, Lorelei's face was unmistakably clear. "Lora, call me honey," a digitally distorted male voice demanded. "Honey, be gentle..." Lorelei pleaded on screen, her eyes glassy and dazed. The audio echoed through the auditorium's speakers, painfully loud. Lorelei froze in shock. The room instantly erupted into gasps, shouts, and chaotic chatter. The collective noise from Stanford professors, deans, and students drowned out everything else. "You..." Valery stared at the screen, her face ghastly pale. She pointed a trembling finger at Lorelei, swaying on her feet before collapsing to the floor. "No!" Lorelei gasped, the reality finally crashing over her. "Mom!" Chapter 2 Later, in the sterile quiet of the hospital room, Valery lay pale and unconscious in her bed, having just been stabilized. Beside her, Lorelei stared at a text message from her father. "Lora, I heard what happened. Once your thesis defense is over next week, you need to go abroad for your PhD." Through her tears, Lorelei typed back. "Okay, Dad." Just then, another text chimed. It was Draven. "Lora, I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you. I can't believe someone was secretly recording us. I swear I'll find out who did this. Where are you? I'm coming to see you." If she hadn't overheard the truth straight from his mouth earlier at Meadowlark Hills, that sweet, concerned message might have actually fooled her again. Instead of replying, she went straight back to her Stanford lab and powered off her phone. She threw herself into her work non-stop—running experiments, calibrating data, and revising her thesis. Two days later, during her thesis defense, Lorelei noticed an unfamiliar face on the judging committee. A classmate leaned in and whispered, "That's Dr. Kailyn Johnson. She did her undergrad, master's, and PhD all right here at Stanford. She's supposed to be really down-to-earth." After Lorelei finished her presentation, the rest of the committee gave their initial approval, but Kailyn looked at her coldly and spoke up. "Lorelei, you plagiarized this thesis, didn't you? I saw a very similar experiment on a foreign site, and the data is identical." Instantly, the other professors' expressions shifted to suspicion. Lorelei scrambled to defend herself, pulling up her raw experiment videos to prove she'd done the work. But Kailyn was completely unfazed. "So what? Videos can be faked. How does that prove your thesis is original? "Three years ago, Prof. Kenward failed a student for plagiarism on just as little evidence. "Besides, Lorelei, given your recent scandalous behavior, it's pretty hard to take your word for anything." Right on cue, a familiar, breathy moan slipped from a male student's phone in the back of the room. "Daddy, be gentle." Lorelei started to shake uncontrollably. A wave of intense shame and nausea hit her, and she clamped a hand over her mouth, dry-heaving violently. "Lorelei, are you pregnant?" Kailyn asked, her voice dripping with disgust. Lorelei forced herself to swallow the bile, gathering every last ounce of strength to stand up straight. "Dr. Johnson, please don't make baseless assumptions about me. And as for my thesis, I will provide the evidence to prove it isn't plagiarized." Kailyn gave a thin, tight smile. "Fine. I'm a fair, objective person. I'd never make an arbitrary ruling like some other professors." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away. Lorelei had just found out from some classmates that Kailyn used to be Valery's student. Even worse, Kailyn was close friends with Janiya Morrice—Draven's older sister, the same girl who'd been caught plagiarizing her thesis years ago. Pulling up to the campus gates, she spotted Draven. He was gazing affectionately at a girl, gently tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear. That girl was Kailyn. Suddenly, it all clicked. Draven was actually in love with Janiya's best friend, and the two of them were working together to ruin Lorelei's life. The second Draven glanced her way, panic spiked in Lorelei's chest. She bolted, sprinting into a small cluster of trees just off campus. Footsteps pounded behind her. Throwing a look over her shoulder, she saw two strange men closing in. "Well, if it isn't the prettiest girl at Stanford," one of them sneered. "Come on, beautiful. Call me Daddy. Let me hear it." As he stepped closer, Lorelei slapped him hard across the face. "Back off!" Enraged, the guy shoved her violently against a tree trunk, pinning her down. "Why play hard to get?" he growled. "You're a slut. You clearly enjoyed yourself in those videos. Come here; we promise to make you feel even better." One of them grabbed her wrists in a vice grip while the other lunged at her. Lorelei screamed for help, but the woods were completely deserted. Out of nowhere, a heavy thud shattered the silence. The man pinning her was thrown backward, crashing into the dirt. "Lora, are you hurt? Why weren't you answering my calls?" Draven demanded, his brow furrowed as he pulled her to her feet. The second he realized she was uninjured, the worry vanished from his face. He was putting on a very convincing act. Lorelei shoved him away. Draven tensed, but quickly softened his features. "Lora, someone secretly recorded those videos on purpose. Don't worry. I'll go with you to talk to your parents and explain everything. It's the perfect time to make our relationship public anyway." Make it public? Lorelei felt deeply hurt. Did he want to announce to the world that she'd been sleeping with her family's bodyguard for the last three years? That someone had a stash of their intimate videos? Was this just another excuse to get revenge on her mother? But she couldn't openly call him out right now. What if he retaliated against her mother using even more extreme methods? While she was lost in thought, Draven pulled her into his arms. "Please forgive me, Lora," he murmured into her ear. "You've ignored me for two days, and I've been too upset to eat or sleep properly." "Let go of me!" she yelled, sinking her teeth hard into his shoulder. Draven frowned. He gripped her jaw—which now had traces of blood on it—and kissed her deeply. "Fine, you can bite me if it stops you from being angry," he breathed. "Lora, we haven't had sex in these woods yet." A wave of physical nausea washed over her. Had he hidden another camera nearby, prepping to record her again? She slapped him hard, the crack echoing loudly through the quiet trees. Forcing her voice steady, Lorelei offered a strained apology. "I'm sorry. I'm just very stressed out because of my period." "It's alright, Lora. Let's go home." She let Draven take her hand. She didn't let her guard down until they arrived back at the house and she saw her father, Gordon Bethell. Only then did she finally feel safe. "Dad, can we fire Draven?" "Why?" Gordon asked, completely confused. She scrambled for a quick excuse. "I'm moving abroad soon, so I won't need a bodyguard anymore." Gordon chuckled. "Drav is very reliable. What if he goes with you while you study overseas?" "No," Lorelei shot back immediately. "I don't want to be around men right now. Dad, please." Assuming she was just avoiding men because of the leaked intimate videos, Gordon agreed to let Draven go. Once Lorelei went abroad, Valery would move back to Chicago to stay with her mother. Since Gordon traveled internationally for business most of the year, Draven wouldn't be able to hurt her family anymore. Chapter 3 She quickly packed some clothes and headed back to campus. To her shock, Draven had taken a job as a security guard for the girls' dormitory, claiming he was there to protect her. It was clear—he was willing to take any job, no matter how demeaning, just to get his revenge. From a distance, she spotted a group of female students swarming Draven, asking for his number. Lorelei felt utterly exhausted just looking at the scene. "Sorry, I already like someone," Draven said. Tall and handsome, he pushed past the crowd and walked straight over to her. Acting as if nothing had happened between them, he grabbed her backpack. "Hey, she isn't worth your time!" one of the girls shouted after him. "She's slept with countless guys and recorded dirty videos." Draven whipped around. He glared at the girl so fiercely that she immediately snapped her mouth shut. "You can get disciplined for spreading rumors," he warned her, his voice cold. "Besides, I like her. I'll always like her, no matter what." After that day, Draven wouldn't leave her alone. He shadowed her everywhere, constantly following her into the dining hall and waiting for her outside the library. Meanwhile, Lorelei became public enemy number one among the other women on campus. Her lab equipment and chemical reagents were mysteriously trashed. Someone dumped water on her laptop and jammed her locker keyhole with glue. To top it all off, her thesis got kicked back three times in a row. Out of options, Lorelei went to track down Kailyn. But as she stood outside the lab, she caught the tail end of a conversation. People were gossiping about her mother, Valery. "Prof. Kenward's daughter sleeps around and films herself with guys," a voice sneered. "So Valery can't exactly be a good person, either. God knows what she actually did to get her professorship." "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," another voice chimed in. "Valery probably targeted Janiya on purpose years ago when she accused her of plagiarism." Lorelei shoved the door open. "Dr. Johnson, do you want to stand by those claims? Would you repeat them in front of the entire university and the police?" Kailyn stood up, flashing a dismissive smirk. "Relax, I was only joking. But that video you filmed is real, isn't it? Instead of eavesdropping, you should spend your time fixing your thesis." Lorelei gripped her thesis so tightly that the paper crumpled in her fists. She had already submitted the lab's security footage and provided a side-by-side comparison with the external publication to clear her name. Yet Kailyn kept forcing her to rewrite it, clearly trying to stonewall her graduation. "Dr. Johnson, apologize for what you just said," Lorelei demanded. Kailyn jabbed a finger hard into Lorelei's shoulder. "Lorelei, your mother caused someone's death. You sleep around, and you cheat your way through school. And you expect me to apologize to you?" Lorelei stumbled backward, the papers in her hand swatting a nearby rack of chemical reagents. She lunged to catch it, but someone shoved her hard from behind. She slammed into Kailyn, and they both went down hard into a mess of shattered glass. A scream rang out. A familiar guy burst through the door, stepped heavily right onto Lorelei's hand, and immediately scooped Kailyn into his arms. "Lynn!" A shard of glass had sliced into Lorelei's neck, pinning her down so badly she couldn't even lift her head. Draven carried Kailyn toward the exit to rush her to the hospital. As he passed Lorelei, he paused just to kick her forcefully in the chest. "I swear, I don't know how Stanford admits such an idiot like you," he snapped. "If Lynn gets a permanent scar from this, I'll make sure you get hurt a hell of a lot worse in return!" "It hurts..." Lorelei groaned out. Recognizing her voice, Draven froze. He hesitated, looking like he might actually check on her, but Kailyn immediately started sobbing. "Drav, my hand hurts so much. Are my tendons cut? Am I going to lose my hand?" "Hey, don't be scared, Lynn. I'm taking you to the hospital right now," he promised. By the time Lorelei managed to drag herself up, she only saw Draven's back as he rushed away—and Kailyn shooting her a mocking smirk over his shoulder. Lorelei's hands were slick with blood. A highly corrosive chemical had spilled directly onto her right hand. When Lorelei finally dragged herself into the hospital, disheveled and in absolute agony, she could hear Draven shouting right through the wall of the next ER bay. "What do you mean the other student is hurt worse than Lynn? You need to treat Lynn first!" "Sir, that young woman's hand has severe chemical burns," the doctor argued. "If they get infected, we may have to amputate." Completely unbothered, Draven yelled back, "Let her wait, even if she loses the arm! She hurt Lynn, and she deserves to suffer the consequences!" Because the Grafton Group owned the hospital, nobody had the guts to argue with him. Lorelei's arm was throbbing, but hearing his cruel words tore her apart way worse than the burns ever could. Taking pity on her, a nurse quietly patched her up with some basic first aid. Lorelei shoved herself up, fighting through the pain. She needed to grab a cab to a different hospital for proper treatment. She had barely made it two steps before someone clamped down hard on her injured arm. The sudden yank tore at her wounds, making her stumble. It was Kailyn. A smirk played on Kailyn's lips. She squeezed Lorelei's arm so tightly that fresh blood blossomed through the white bandages. "You heard him, right, Lorelei?" Kailyn whispered. "Drav isn't your protector. He only got close to you to mess with your head and take revenge on your mother." Lorelei ripped her arm away. Tuning out Kailyn's toxic taunts, she bolted outside and flagged down a cab. Later, as a doctor at the second hospital scraped the dead tissue away from her right arm, Lorelei went completely pale, biting her lip until she tasted blood. Yet, the physical torture was absolutely nothing compared to the gut punch of Draven's betrayal—and the lingering ache of that violent kick. After patching up her wound, Lorelei headed back to campus, only to find Draven waiting outside her dorm. "Lora," he said. "I got you a chocolate cupcake. It's still warm." The bakery across town was always packed, which usually meant at least a half-hour wait. Yet for the last three years, rain or shine, he'd always made sure to grab her one whenever she asked. Lorelei took a step back, dodging his hand while keeping her injured arm tucked safely beneath her long sleeve. "I don't eat those anymore." Draven froze. "Are you scared of me? Why?" She was too exhausted to invent an excuse. Then her phone buzzed. A text from a classmate drained the color straight from her face. Taniya, a younger girl in her project group, had formally accused her of fabricating data and bullying. She'd even attached photos of bruises and an audio recording of threats as proof. Chapter 4 Her advisor, Professor Zariah Nevill, summoned Lorelei to her office immediately. Draven shadowed her all the way there. Inside, Kailyn was standing next to a sobbing Taniya. The underclassman shrank back, looking terrified the second she saw Lorelei. Kailyn immediately laid into her. "Lorelei, plagiarizing your paper was bad enough, but bullying? Do you even want to graduate?" Lorelei kept her expression deadpan. "Prof. Nevill, just call the cops. I'm fully prepared to undergo a formal investigation and accept whatever consequences come with it." "No," Draven cut in. "Prof. Nevill, campus issues should be handled internally. Escalating this is only going to drag the university's reputation through the mud." Taniya jumped right in. "Exactly. Prof. Nevill, if Lorelei just apologizes publicly, I won't take this any further." Zariah clearly wanted to dodge a scandal. "Alright. Lorelei, you're going to issue a public apology at the university's anniversary event tomorrow." They were forcing her to take the fall for things she hadn't even done. "I'm not apologizing for things I didn't do," Lorelei said. Taniya shoved up her sleeve to reveal dark bruises. "Lorelei, you hit me and screamed at me just because I wouldn't fake the lab data for you." Kailyn turned to Draven. "I understand you work as Lorelei's bodyguard, Mr. Grafton. You must know her character better than anyone. Tell us—does Lorelei have a history of bullying?" Draven took a slow step forward. "Yes. Ms. Bethell has a history of mistreating the household staff, and she has never had any close friends." A violent jolt of shock hit Lorelei, her entire body going rigid. She realized he'd been waiting for this exact moment to stab her in the back. Zariah looked impatient. "Just apologize, and I'll have the post taken down from the campus forums. I'm sure you don't want to ruin Prof. Kenward's professional reputation." That final threat broke her. Lowering her eyes, she gave the apology, swallowing the false accusations purely to protect her mother. Draven had expected to feel triumphant in his revenge. But watching Lorelei walk away, looking utterly crushed, he felt a sudden, unexplained ache in his chest. He blew off Kailyn's invitation to celebrate and drove back to Meadowlark Hills. When he pulled up, an unexpected visitor was waiting at his door. "Draven, you were the guy in that video, weren't you?" Valery's face was deathly pale. "Draven Grafton. The sole heir to the Grafton Group. And you have a half-sister named Janiya Morrice." "You don't have the right to say her name!" Draven shouted. "I'm only here for Lora," Valery said. "What happened to Janiya has nothing to do with her. I'll do whatever you want, but please, stop hurting my daughter." Draven let out a harsh laugh. "Anything? Fine. Tomorrow is the anniversary of Janiya's death. I want you to kneel at her grave, press your head into the dirt, and confess your guilt." Valery just stared at him, wide-eyed. "What, you're not willing?" He raised an eyebrow. "Works for me. I haven't lost interest in Lora yet, anyway. You have no idea, Prof. Kenward, how your daughter acts when we sleep together—" "Stop!" Valery dug her fingernails into her palms. "I'll do it. Just keep your word and leave my daughter alone." "That depends entirely on your sincerity, Prof. Kenward." Meanwhile, Lorelei spent the next few days working around the clock on her thesis. Her committee finally approved it on the absolute last day of submissions. But before the relief could even set in, Gordon called in an absolute panic. "Lora! Come home right now. Something terrible has happened to your mom!" Lorelei rushed home, but froze in her tracks at the sight of the villa. Glaring red paint was smeared across the exterior walls, spelling out massive accusations, "Valery Kenward, Murderer!" and "Malicious Teacher!" A man stood by the front gate, his voice blaring through a megaphone. "The students of Stanford University are formally reporting her! Prof. Kenward bullied students and took bribes on multiple occasions. "Three years ago, when Janiya couldn't afford to give her a gift, Kenward framed her for plagiarism! "She insulted Janiya and drove her to jump off a building to her death!" A crowd of onlookers had already swarmed the entrance, flanked by news crews with their cameras rolling. Slipping in through the back door, Lorelei found Valery collapsed on the couch, her breathing shallow. "Mom! Are you okay?" Lorelei cried, tears welling in her eyes as she rushed over. "Come on, let's get you to the hospital." "Lora, I'm fine. I took my heart medication, I'm okay." Valery forced herself to sit up, her lips drained of color. "I have something important I need to do today. Lora, you have to come with me." The Maybach eventually pulled up to the cemetery. Lorelei held her mother's arm, supporting her weight as they walked the grounds. They stopped short when they saw a man standing in front of one of the headstones. It was Draven. Valery gently pulled Lorelei behind her. Her voice was surprisingly steady. "Draven, whatever bad blood exists between us, and whatever is going on between you and Lora, let's end it here today." Draven let out a bitter laugh. "End it? Prof. Kenward, do you seriously think getting on your knees, banging your head against the ground a few times, and saying sorry makes up for a human life?" He lunged forward and grabbed Lorelei. "I've changed my mind. I want you to give Lorelei to me for the rest of her life as compensation." "Don't even think about it!" Lorelei yanked her arm back and slapped him hard across the face. Draven dug his fingers into her shoulders and yelled, "Lorelei, that's the second time you've hit me. Let me tell you right now, you belong to me for the rest of your life. It's what the Bethell family owes me!" "Drav, why waste your breath on them?" Kailyn stepped up, her voice cold. "Make her bow her head and apologize!" She signaled two bodyguards to force Valery to her knees in front of the gravestone. "Mom!" Lorelei screamed. Valery's forehead slammed into the gravestone with a sickening thud. Lorelei's eyes burned with furious tears. "I hate you!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "Draven, I hate you!" Draven grabbed her chin. "Lora, you can only love me. We've been sleeping together for three years; who else could you possibly marry?" "I'd marry anyone but you!" Her words made Draven completely lose it. "Fine. Then today you're going to face your mother's crimes head-on." He ordered the bodyguards to hold Lorelei in place and force her to watch Valery strike her head against the ground in apology. But before things went any further, his father, Mauricio Grafton, called him. Draven took the call and hurried off. After Valery had struck her head against the hard ground nine times, her forehead was gushing blood. The bodyguards hesitated, ready to let her go. Kailyn's face twisted into a vicious sneer. "She has to do it ninety-nine times, obviously. Mr. Grafton already gave the order. Why aren't you moving faster?" Lorelei was shaking with rage. "Draven never said that!" Kailyn slapped her. "My words are Drav's words. Are you really still holding out hope?" Dark red blood pooled on the paving stones, mixing with Lorelei's falling tears. The sound of her mother's head hitting the stone was agonizing, tearing at Lorelei's heart. By the time Valery hit her head for the ninety-ninth time, she had passed out cold. Lorelei threw herself onto the ground next to her, sobbing so hard she couldn't speak. Consumed by hatred, she truly wanted to kill Draven and Kailyn. At the hospital, Valery was rushed straight into surgery. The doctor explained that the severe blunt trauma had caused bleeding in her brain. Nine agonizing hours later, the surgery was declared a success. Lorelei let out a massive sigh of relief and decided to make a quick trip home to pack some clothes for her mother. The second she pushed through the hospital's doors, someone slapped her hard across the face. Chapter 5 Lorelei stumbled back and looked up to see Draven glaring at her, completely unhinged with fury. "Lorelei. If you want revenge, take it out on me, but how dare you touch Kailyn?" he spat. "You actually reported her for sleeping with male students, faked photos of her in bed, and pinned them to the Stanford bulletin board. "She was suspended, and now she's slit her wrists in a suicide attempt! Are you satisfied?" Draven lunged, seizing her by the throat. Lorelei choked, clawing at his hand. "Draven... you're insane," she gasped out. "I didn't do it." He sneered, tightening his grip. "You're coming with me right now to apologize to Kailyn." In the stark hospital room, Kailyn looked deathly pale. The second she saw Draven, she buried her face against his chest. "Drav, why did you save me? Just let me die so I can be with Jani! This whole world is completely corrupt!" Draven looked down at her, his eyes filled with deep pity. "Lynn, I've already paid people to kill the story. You don't need to be afraid anymore." He turned to Lorelei, his expression instantly hardening into a cold glare. "Apologize to her right now." Lorelei's eyes were red-rimmed, but she clung to whatever dignity she had left. "I didn't do anything wrong. Why should I apologize?" Tears streamed down Kailyn's cheeks. "Lorelei, those guys already confessed. You slept with them just to get them to frame me. I have the evidence right here." "What?" Draven's face flushed with sudden fury as he snatched the phone out of Lorelei's hand. "Are you really that easy?" His anger boiled over, and he shoved his hand up her skirt. "You even lied to me about being on your period." Before she could react, Draven hoisted her over his shoulder, kicked open the door to the adjoining room, and slammed her down onto the bed. Unbuttoning his shirt, he forced his heavy weight on top of her, crushing his mouth roughly against her neck. "Get off me!" she screamed, bringing a hand up to slap him hard across the face. Draven just sneered. "Not willing? I'll make you submit, Lora." He yanked off his belt, bound her wrists to the headboard, and forced a small vial of liquid down her throat. Within moments, her body flushed with an unnatural heat, and a sickening realization washed over her. She knew exactly what the drug was. She wept in helpless distress. The second he ripped her clothes open, absolute, suffocating despair took over. "Lora, you belong to me," Draven whispered, his voice dripping with malice. "Marry me, okay?" The next morning, Lorelei gathered her clothes off the cluttered floor and pulled them over her aching body. She slid the delicate diamond ring off her finger and dropped it straight into the trash. Draven's plan was obvious—he intended to humiliate her with intimate photos, trap her in a forced marriage, and abuse her for the rest of her life. But she was never going to let that happen. She powered on her phone to find over ninety-nine missed calls and texts. Julissa was calling again, her voice tight with panic. "Lora, you finally answered! Get online right now. Videos of you and your mom are trending." Lorelei opened the trending page. The number one search result was a video of her mother, Valery, kneeling and bowing in a cemetery. The second was a clip ripped from a live stream last night—it showed Lorelei, visibly drugged and aroused. Lorelei gripped the phone until her knuckles turned white. Draven hadn't just drugged her; he had actually live-streamed the assault. The internet was overflowing with vicious insults aimed at her and her mother. The comment section was an absolute warzone, branding Lorelei a slut and her mother a murderer. "Like mother, like daughter. The mom killed a student, and the daughter is a total whore!" "Valery kneeling to apologize is undeniable proof of her guilt. The justice system needs to lock them both away!" "Valery deserves the death penalty, and Lorelei needs to be expelled from Stanford!" Lorelei's fingertips trembled. Five minutes later, the original posts had vanished. Immediately, a new headline dominated the trending searches. "Grafton Heir Photographed with Girlfriend at Maternity Clinic—Expecting a Baby Soon." Even though the photo was blurry, she recognized Draven and Kailyn right away. Tears hit her screen. She felt completely numb to the pain. Her phone buzzed against her palm. It was Gordon. "Dad," she answered. "I'm heading to the hospital right now. Is Mom doing better?" She heard muffled crying on the other end of the line. "Lora, your mother passed away last night." Meanwhile, at Meadowlark Hills. Mauricio Grafton had seen the tabloids. He'd summoned his son, Draven, home for a family dinner, fully intending to arrange a marriage for him. Draven stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, nursing a glass of wine. He couldn't get Lorelei out of his head—specifically her stubborn, red-rimmed eyes from the night before. It left him tangled in a deep, undeniable mix of frustration and affection. When a wealthy guest asked him to dance, he turned her down. "I'm sorry, I have a girlfriend. I proposed to her last night, and she accepted." "Oh? Is it Kailyn? Your father said the rumors about the two of you weren't true." Draven thought of Lorelei and smiled. "It's not Kailyn. She comes from an educated family, and we plan to announce our relationship in a few days." Looking out the window, Draven spotted a neighbor's proposal setup, complete with a massive floral arrangement. The sight gave him an idea. He had to admit to himself that his recent behavior had been extreme. He'd leaked private videos, forced Valery to her knees to apologize, and drugged and sexually assaulted Lorelei. He knew he had put Lorelei through severe distress. Yet, somehow, those exact actions had made him absolutely certain of his feelings for her. The night before, he had dreamed of his sister, Janiya. In the dream, Janiya was crying. She told him to stop making himself miserable over revenge, that she wanted him to be happy, and that he shouldn't betray the people who loved him. His mind was finally clear. With graduation happening the very next day, he ordered his secretary to plan a proposal. "Have the school administration set it up tonight," he directed. "Lorelei likes pink roses, so order a huge amount. Also, retrieve the two-hundred-million-dollar crown I bought last month from the bank vault. I'll need it for tomorrow." His secretary offered a suggestion. "Mr. Grafton, should we invite the media? We could play the videos right as Ms. Bethell accepts the proposal to humiliate her." "What are you talking about?" Draven yelled. "I never said I wanted to embarrass her. I'm proposing to her. I plan to use this opportunity to tell the media directly that those videos were simply a record of a normal relationship."
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Open the prompt, add the details, and let the structure carry the story forward. 329 children's book prompts, organized like a real creative workflow.
Open the prompt, add the details, and let the structure carry the story forward. 329 children's book prompts, organized like a real creative workflow.
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Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at his peak, he sees a countdown over himself — his own life is nearly over.
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Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at his peak, he sees a countdown over himself — his own life is nearly over.
Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at his peak, he sees a countdown over himself — his own life is nearly over.
Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at his peak, he sees a countdown over himself — his own life is nearly over.
Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at his peak, he sees a countdown over himself — his own life is nearly over.
Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the true value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at the height of his success, he sees a countdown above himself—his own life is nearly over.
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Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Comment “Vault” to try it yourself 👇 Stop falling for the “loudness trap” and finally master your mix translation across every playback system. Most producers use stereo wideners that just trick their ears with false gain, but StereoVault uses intelligent level matching to give you real width without the volume spikes. Whether you’re working in Ableton Live or any other DAW, this smart preset analysis ensures your stereo image stays clean, solid, and professional from the studio to the car. Comment VAULT below and I’ll send you the link to start your free trial. #bedroomproducer #musicmentor #producerlife #producergrind
Velocity Meets Versatility. Redefine Your Creative Workflow. ⚡️💼 In a world where every second translates to progress, why let a progress bar hold you back? Experience the pinnacle of data mobility with our Pro-Series External Storage Solution. 🚀 Unrivaled Transfer Speeds: Powered by cutting-edge architecture, experience high-fidelity file transfers that eliminate the "wait" from your workstation. Move 4K footage and massive libraries in the blink of an eye. 📦 The Infinite Vault: From raw architectural renders to comprehensive digital archives, enjoy massive capacity housed within a sleek, pocket-sized masterpiece. 🛡️ Built for the Bold: Rugged durability meets minimalist design. Whether you’re in a high-rise studio or on a remote shoot, your data remains secure and accessible. ✨ Seamless Integration: Universal compatibility across all your professional devices. Simply plug, play, and dominate your industry. Don’t just store your data—empower it. Elevate your performance today. #TechInnovation #ProfessionalPerformance #DataSolutions #CreativeWorkflow #HighSpeedStorage
Ethan Cole gains the power to see lifespans and the true value of objects after a crash with CEO Vanessa Shaw. He amasses wealth, exposes his cheating wife, protects Vanessa, and rises to power. But at the height of his success, he sees a countdown above himself—his own life is nearly over.
NEW! Inside our Spiritual Business Skool 🔥 36+ Done-for-you AI marketing artifacts & skills to help you serve more clients & grow your spiritual online business For only $8 get instant access to this daily growing treasure chest specifically designed for spiritual entrepreneurs based on what’s working in real life: ✅ Create your own Daily Habit Tracker 👁️ Visibility Habit Tracker 💠 Spiritual Business Setup Guide + Workbook 🃏 AI Oracle Card Reader ✨Personalized Astrology Reading Template 🗂️ Tarot Reading PDF Template ✨ Business Angel Number Quiz Funnel 💚 Chakra Check-in 😮💨 EFT Tapping Script Vault 🌈 Chakra Mega Bundle 🙌 Reiki Energy Healing Bundle ♈ Astrology Basics Cheatsheet 🚀 Astro Launch Cheatsheet 🔮 Tarot Card Spread Cheatsheet 🌙 Moon Phase Content Planner 🧘 Custom Meditation Generator 💜 Affirmation Deck 📓 Manifestation Journal 📖 90 Day Client & Cash Manifestation Journal ⚙️ Biz Manifestation Operating System 🪞 Shadow Work Journal 🎠 Carousel Generator 🔥 Hot Take Miner 🎬 Soul-Aligned Short-Form Script Studio ♻️ Instagram & TikTok Repurposing Engine 🎥 YouTube Content Studio 📅 Weekly Content Engine 📌 Pinned Post Generator 💬 Skool Engagement Post Generator ▶️ YouTube Video to Skool Post 📝 Classroom Content Below Training 💎 Higher Self Pricing Assessment 📊 Skool Revenue Model 🎓 Mini Course Dashboard 🧬 Human Design for Business Forecast 🎨 Brand Guidelines Template 👑 VIP Client Dashboard 🧩 Mini Quiz Scorecard 🏁 7 Day Challenge Tracker ⚡ Genius Zone Identifier 🗝️ Shadow Work Prompts A complete mini course that covers: ✨ What AI Claude Artifacts are ✨ Why Artifacts Mini Offers Win ✨ Customize Your Artifacts ✨ Share your Artifact ✨ What Claude Skills are ✨ Building your own artifacts (in minutes) Get instant access to the full treasure chest and so much more now more when joining our community 🫶
Wedding planning can feel like a lot. 👉 The FREE wedding goodie vault includes planning helpers, templates, and tools designed to help you get started.
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NEW! Inside our Spiritual Business Skool 🔥 36+ Done-for-you AI marketing artifacts & skills to help you serve more clients & grow your spiritual online business For only $8 get instant access to this daily growing treasure chest specifically designed for spiritual entrepreneurs based on what’s working in real life: ✅ Create your own Daily Habit Tracker 👁️ Visibility Habit Tracker 💠 Spiritual Business Setup Guide + Workbook 🃏 AI Oracle Card Reader ✨Personalized Astrology Reading Template 🗂️ Tarot Reading PDF Template ✨ Business Angel Number Quiz Funnel 💚 Chakra Check-in 😮💨 EFT Tapping Script Vault 🌈 Chakra Mega Bundle 🙌 Reiki Energy Healing Bundle ♈ Astrology Basics Cheatsheet 🚀 Astro Launch Cheatsheet 🔮 Tarot Card Spread Cheatsheet 🌙 Moon Phase Content Planner 🧘 Custom Meditation Generator 💜 Affirmation Deck 📓 Manifestation Journal 📖 90 Day Client & Cash Manifestation Journal ⚙️ Biz Manifestation Operating System 🪞 Shadow Work Journal 🎠 Carousel Generator 🔥 Hot Take Miner 🎬 Soul-Aligned Short-Form Script Studio ♻️ Instagram & TikTok Repurposing Engine 🎥 YouTube Content Studio 📅 Weekly Content Engine 📌 Pinned Post Generator 💬 Skool Engagement Post Generator ▶️ YouTube Video to Skool Post 📝 Classroom Content Below Training 💎 Higher Self Pricing Assessment 📊 Skool Revenue Model 🎓 Mini Course Dashboard 🧬 Human Design for Business Forecast 🎨 Brand Guidelines Template 👑 VIP Client Dashboard 🧩 Mini Quiz Scorecard 🏁 7 Day Challenge Tracker ⚡ Genius Zone Identifier 🗝️ Shadow Work Prompts A complete mini course that covers: ✨ What AI Claude Artifacts are ✨ Why Artifacts Mini Offers Win ✨ Customize Your Artifacts ✨ Share your Artifact ✨ What Claude Skills are ✨ Building your own artifacts (in minutes) Get instant access to the full treasure chest and so much more now more when joining our community 🫶
NEW! Inside the Spiritual Business Skool 🔥 36+ Done-for-you AI marketing artifacts & skills to help you serve more clients & grow your spiritual online business For only $8 get instant access to this daily growing treasure chest specifically designed for spiritual entrepreneurs based on what’s working in real life: 👁️ Visibility Habit Tracker 💠 Spiritual Business Setup Guide + Workbook 🃏 AI Oracle Card Reader ✨Personalized Astrology Reading Template 🗂️ Tarot Reading PDF Template ✨ Business Angel Number Quiz Funnel 💚 Chakra Check-in 😮💨 EFT Tapping Script Vault 🌈 Chakra Mega Bundle 🙌 Reiki Energy Healing Bundle ♈ Astrology Basics Cheatsheet 🚀 Astro Launch Cheatsheet 🔮 Tarot Card Spread Cheatsheet 🌙 Moon Phase Content Planner 🧘 Custom Meditation Generator 💜 Affirmation Deck 📓 Manifestation Journal 📖 90 Day Client & Cash Manifestation Journal ⚙️ Biz Manifestation Operating System ✅ Create your own Daily Habit Tracker 🪞 Shadow Work Journal 🎠 Carousel Generator 🔥 Hot Take Miner 🎬 Soul-Aligned Short-Form Script Studio ♻️ Instagram & TikTok Repurposing Engine 🎥 YouTube Content Studio 📅 Weekly Content Engine 📌 Pinned Post Generator 💬 Skool Engagement Post Generator ▶️ YouTube Video to Skool Post 📝 Classroom Content Below Training 💎 Higher Self Pricing Assessment 📊 Skool Revenue Model 🎓 Mini Course Dashboard 🧬 Human Design for Business Forecast 🎨 Brand Guidelines Template 👑 VIP Client Dashboard 🧩 Mini Quiz Scorecard 🏁 7 Day Challenge Tracker ⚡ Genius Zone Identifier 🗝️ Shadow Work Prompts AND a complete mini course on: ✨ What are Claude Artifacts? ✨ Why they win with clients! ✨ How to customize and share them Get instant access to the full treasure chest and so much more now more when joining our community 🫶
NEW! Inside the Spiritual Business Skool 🔥 35+ Done-for-you AI marketing artifacts & skills to help you serve more clients & grow your spiritual online business For only $8 get instant access to this daily growing treasure chest specifically designed for spiritual entrepreneurs based on what’s working in real life: ✅ Create your own Daily Habit Tracker 👁️ Visibility Habit Tracker 💠 Spiritual Business Setup Guide + Workbook 🃏 AI Oracle Card Reader ✨Personalized Astrology Reading Template 🗂️ Tarot Reading PDF Template ✨ Business Angel Number Quiz Funnel 💚 Chakra Check-in 😮💨 EFT Tapping Script Vault 🌈 Chakra Mega Bundle 🙌 Reiki Energy Healing Bundle ♈ Astrology Basics Cheatsheet 🚀 Astro Launch Cheatsheet 🔮 Tarot Card Spread Cheatsheet 🌙 Moon Phase Content Planner 🧘 Custom Meditation Generator 💜 Affirmation Deck 📓 Manifestation Journal 📖 90 Day Client & Cash Manifestation Journal ⚙️ Biz Manifestation Operating System 🪞 Shadow Work Journal 🎠 Carousel Generator 🔥 Hot Take Miner 🎬 Soul-Aligned Short-Form Script Studio ♻️ Instagram & TikTok Repurposing Engine 🎥 YouTube Content Studio 📅 Weekly Content Engine 📌 Pinned Post Generator 💬 Skool Engagement Post Generator ▶️ YouTube Video to Skool Post 📝 Classroom Content Below Training 💎 Higher Self Pricing Assessment 📊 Skool Revenue Model 🎓 Mini Course Dashboard 🧬 Human Design for Business Forecast 🎨 Brand Guidelines Template 👑 VIP Client Dashboard 🧩 Mini Quiz Scorecard 🏁 7 Day Challenge Tracker ⚡ Genius Zone Identifier 🗝️ Shadow Work Prompts PLUS a complete mini course that covers: ✨ What AI Claude Artifacts are ✨ Why Artifacts Mini Offers Win ✨ Open & Customize Artifacts ✨ Free or Paid: Share your Artifact ✨ What Claude Skills are ✨ Building your own artifacts (in minutes) Get instant access to the full treasure chest and so much more now more when joining our community 🫶
🔥 JUST DROPPED! Mini course dashboard for your Skool community One of my members asked if I could give them a template for this and of course I can 🧚 This is just the latest addition to our AI marketing treasure chest inside the Spiritual Business Skool. Plus 36+ done-for-you AI Artifacts & templates to help you serve more clients and grow your spiritual online business 🎥 Youtube Video Artifact 👁️ Visibility Habit Tracker 💠 Spiritual Business Setup Guide + Workbook 🃏 AI Oracle Card Reader ✨Personalized Astrology Reading Template 🗂️ Tarot Reading PDF Template ✨ Business Angel Number Quiz Funnel 💚 Chakra Check-in 😮💨 EFT Tapping Script Vault 🌈 Chakra Mega Bundle 🙌 Reiki Energy Healing Bundle ♈ Astrology Basics Cheatsheet 🚀 Astro Launch Cheatsheet 🔮 Tarot Card Spread Cheatsheet 🌙 Moon Phase Content Planner 🧘 Custom Meditation Generator 💜 Affirmation Deck 📓 Manifestation Journal 📖 90 Day Client & Cash Manifestation Journal ⚙️ Biz Manifestation Operating System ✅ Create your own Daily Habit Tracker 🪞 Shadow Work Journal 🎠 Carousel Generator 🔥 Hot Take Miner 🎬 Soul-Aligned Short-Form Script Studio ♻️ Instagram & TikTok Repurposing Engine 🎥 YouTube Content Studio 📅 Weekly Content Engine 📌 Pinned Post Generator 💬 Skool Engagement Post Generator ▶️ YouTube Video to Skool Post 📝 Classroom Content Below Training 💎 Higher Self Pricing Assessment 📊 Skool Revenue Model 🎓 Mini Course Dashboard 🧬 Human Design for Business Forecast 🎨 Brand Guidelines Template 👑 VIP Client Dashboard 🧩 Mini Quiz Scorecard 🏁 7 Day Challenge Tracker ⚡ Genius Zone Identifier 🗝️ Shadow Work Prompts AND a complete mini course on: ✨ What are Claude Artifacts? ✨ Why they win with clients! ✨ How to customize artifacts ✨ Create your own artifacts in minutes Get instant access to the full treasure chest and so much more now more when joining our community 🫶
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With Stay. Dine. Spa., enjoy CHF150 resort credit to spend throughout your stay; from gourmet street food at Soul St., Italian favourites at Cinque Studio, to iconic nightlife at The Penthouse, plus spa indulgence, laundry and more across the resort. | With Stay. Dine. Spa., enjoy CHF150 resort credit to spend throughout your stay; from gourmet street food at Soul St., Italian favourites at Cinque Studio, to iconic nightlife at The Penthouse, plus spa indulgence, laundry and more across the resort. | With Stay. Dine. Spa., enjoy CHF150 resort credit to spend throughout your stay; from gourmet street food at Soul St., Italian favourites at Cinque Studio, to iconic nightlife at The Penthouse, plus spa indulgence, laundry and more across the resort. | With Stay. Dine. Spa., enjoy CHF150 resort credit to spend throughout your stay; from gourmet street food at Soul St., Italian favourites at Cinque Studio, to iconic nightlife at The Penthouse, plus spa indulgence, laundry and more across the resort.
Will your coffers overflow with gold, or will you be scraping for your last coin? Will you rule a shining empire… or captain a sinking ship? | Will your coffers overflow with gold, or will you be scraping for your last coin? Will you rule a shining empire… or captain a sinking ship?